Thanksgiving leftovers..

Small feast for 5 = Lots of leftovers!

If you were blessed with leftover turkey this Thanksgiving, here is an idea: Turkey Mole Enchiladas.  Swing by the ethnic food aisle at your local grocery store.  (A bigger blessing is having a grocery store with an ethnic food aisle.) Grab yourself a jar of Mole Sauce (thick paste made from many chili peppers & spices),  a container of chicken broth and a pack of corn tortillas.

Prepare sauce according to directions (blend paste with chicken broth).  Warm tortillas in microwave until they are pliable, roll tortillas with turkey meat that's been warmed, drizzle mole sauce over tortillas and enjoy!

Suggestions: mix a little mole sauce with turkey meat before rolling in to tortillas and serve enchiladas with rice.

Odd thanksgiving meal..

There are things that aren't easy sharing with your significant other without fearing ridicule or worst, being seen unfavorable!  My odd little tradition after thanksgiving had once repulsed a boyfriend, so the first holiday spent with my husband was a little tense and so I braced myself. The day after Thanksgiving I have my famous sandwich. I say it is famous because my friends and family are well aware of it and find it amusing to call me up after Thanksgiving to find out if I have had my traditional treat.

I really can't remember what year it began, but I was in my teens.  I was home alone at lunch time the day after Thanksgiving and I was in the kitchen looking at the pantry for something quick to eat.  I decided on a PB&J, but this simple snack I also do not fix in a simple way.  I mix both ingredients in a bowl before I spread it between the bread. 

Anyways, on that first day I took a bite out of my sandwich, but immediately felt the snack would not be enough so I peeked in the refrigerator for something else to eat. To my surprise I found some left over turkey breast that I guess we brought home from some relatives home we celebrated the day before.  It looked so appetising I served myself a small portion on a plate and nuked it.  I felt bad I had not discovered the leftovers in the fridge first because now I was stuck with my PB&J.  I figured I would have to eat my sandwich since I had already prepared it, but I was going to treat myself and pick at the turkey.  Some how the warm turkey made it in to my sandwich and the experience was so wonderful I repeated it the next year.

It was unintentional to make it a tradition; the year after I found myself in a similar situation and the memory drove me to repeat it. After the second time the excitement over the sandwich came and I've been celebrating ever since.

So I mentioned my little sandwich repulsed a boyfriend, as well as other people to be honest; OK, most people but at least my husband tried to understand my attraction to the sweet and savory combination..  On the first Thanksgiving we hosted after our marriage my in-laws came to visit and sure enough a couple of my close friends called me up to ask if I had had my sandwich. I did, and I am anticipating with great joy my sandwich this year!

What are you looking forward to on this next Thanksgiving? 

So very proud..

My husband completed his first full marathon today. I am so very proud and impressed by him; to have taken on the challenge for his own benefit, without anyone pressuring him, and to test his own endurance its something I admire very much.

On my biggest physical challenge (at 33) I had a group training me, pushing me and guiding me thru it all. My husband had only a schedule to follow and no one pushing him. I tried to be as supportive as possible and each unbearably hot, freezing cold or rainy day he laced up his shoes and went to fulfill his scheduled miles to run.

What impresses me the most about my husband is that when most 40 something’s are going thru silly midlife crisis (he is 43) buying expensive toys, having plastic surgery, validating their self-worth by trying to recapture their youth in the most damaging ways my husband has done two impressive things:

One, he went back to school and got a law degree and TWO he set his sights on improving his physical fitness.

Congratulations my love! You are an inspiration to me and I am so happy to have you in my life.

The Polyphonic Spree & Dr. Seuss

One of the great things of coming together in a friendship or relationship is the introduction of something different from what you know.  In my relationship with my husband one of my favorite things he introduced me to was new music artists.  The Polyphonic Spree are one I am a fan of now. One of my favorite songs from them I should have my husband play for me to help him get me out of bed in the mornings..  I am a challenge!

These musicians are true artists and their song "Light and Day" is a masterpiece of sounds.  The chorus gives me tingles and it makes me feel like ... flying, like WIND.  I found this alternate video of the song just recently. It fits more to what my feelings over the song have been..  They also had a guest apparance on Scrubs which was pretty cool.

I was so happy when I saw that this loved song will be featured in the next Dr.Seuss movie-The Lorax and I just can't wait unit next spring to see it.  The preview is one that fills my visual senses and adds more to my love of the song.  I hope you take a chance at checking out this band and if nothing else reminisce on childhood memories with the new movie.

Chilli cook off (Part II)

When we met in Terlengua we found out about Harry's "little" mishap and realized there was a big hole on the floor of the sleeping area.  Thoughts of critters crawling in immediately filled my head!. My husband quickly patched it up with what little he could find; a few trash bags but mostly duct tape, because my father-in law being a man's man happened to have MORE THAN A FEW rolls of it! How he did not freeze thru the earlier days before our arrival is beyond me. In Terlingua at this time of year the temperature can drop well below 40 at night. Now I can understand Harry not making the repair himself; though a sturdy gentleman he is in his late 70s and has no business crawling under a trailer.

Another discomfort was the limited amount of water we had for bathing. Harry gave us the low down when we arrived on how that would work. I still laugh at his words.. He said, "you get in the shower and rinse off quickly, then you wash the important parts and rinse off again quickly". Hmm..., lightning shower. Besides the limited amount of water the blowout incident busted the water heater so our showers were even quicker! Again, thank goodness I travel with wet wipes, because they got us clean along with the limited amount of ice-cold water we had to use to rinse. The one thing I just could not do properly without using up all our water suply was washing my long hair. Yes, my husband loves my long hair and makes faces when ever I mention I am considering chopping it off (I do it every few years). Despite him having had "long hair" in his college days he has no idea what most women go thru to groom long locks. My hair immediately went up in a pony tail the minute I saw all the dust of the camp grounds and it stayed that way or in braids AND under a hat for the length of our camping weekend! I tried my best not to think about it, but the ick factor was almost unbearable!

Anyways, the chili festival is one long week of loud music, socialising with your neighbor, people driving around in 4x4 custom vehicles (you'd be surprised of the many places people can mount long horns), drinking, shopping (plenty of vendors), and eating. Not a bad place to be! If it wasn't for some campers blasting music well past 2 a.m. and the noise of generators the "camping" trip would be awesome. 

I have to say I do like to camp; but my camping trips had never consisted of being a part of a mobile village in the middle of the desert. I had always camped by a river or a lake, in warm weather and with a handful of close friends. The festival has a rowdy side to it. There are hardly kids around since the campers mostly consist of retired people and a not so young age group that find heavy drinking and the flashing of bare breasts entertaining. Don't get me wrong, I am no stick in the mud; I truly enjoyed a tequila tasting party we got invited to at a campsite next to us, but it was tasting from a dozen bottles and not chugging to get a buzz.

The best part of the festival besides the actual chili tasting is going off roading thru the desert, but despite all the fun distractions this year's cook off was something I was willing to skip. It was a memorable time that I was happy to have an excuse to PASS on this year. Having to work on a weekend finally gave me an excuse to get out of something I really didn't want to do.

I have to admit I have some good memories of our trip last year, but the bad outweighed the good after the fact. At the time I didn't want to be a whiny wife complaining about the conditions, but a year later all the discomforts rushed back in my head and I prayed that the busy season at work would give me a "get out of jail" card.  As expected (and to my luck) I did end up having to work thru the weekend of this year's cook off.  Despite my long hours at the office at least I had plenty of hot water to shower at home.

Chili cook off (Part I) / camping trip

Entrance to camp ground

Last year, my husband and I attended the Annual Chili Cook off in Terlingua, Texas. It is a week long festival with a chili cook off competition at the end of the week.  This year, my husband made the trip without me.  Last weekend, he went to Terlingua and met his dad who has been attending and judging for some 15 plus years.

The cook off last year was fun.  We met some interesting people and because my father in-law is a regular (every body knows and loves Harry), he gets invited to many little parties at different camp sites thru the week long festival.  We of course tagged along and ate and drank beyond our hearts content.  Each night there was a live country band and an actual dance floor (area)! It would have been awesome had I had someone to dance with.  Despite my husband's pride in being a Texan (lord he teases me about my Yankee ways - I was transplanted in San Antonio in my teens) , HE DOES NOT dance to country music.

Harry took with him last year his giant telescope, which in an open range with a starlit canopy sky was an amazing treat. A big difference from sky gazing in the city. Last year the long drive to Terlingua was a nice way to connect with my husband.  We love car trips, and taking pictures along the way is one of our favorite things.  This year after having made the drive before, the thought of spending eight hours in a car to get there and eight hours back of a three-day weekend was a bit of a nightmare.  I have been exhausted for the better part of two months and such a long drive did not fit in to my idea of resting.

Anyways, the festival is held in the desert on a few acres of land where you bring in all you will need for the time you are there and then you must take it all back! (You know, CAMPING!)  There is no running water, there are also no rivers, no creeks, or bodies of water available so a good shower/bath to scrub all the dirt and grime from the dusty desert at the end of the day won't happen.  My father in-law has a nice little trailer equipped with bathroom, kitchen, sleeping quarter, and tiny living area.  It is perfect except that I don't think it gets vacuumed or scrubbed down often.  Thank goodness I am a bit of a clean freak and travel with wet wipes because I spent a good 15 minutes cleaning the bathroom and another 15 cleaning the kitchen before I felt at ease there.  All my discomfort I held in and I tried to make the best of it.  By the way, I did my cleaning when my father in law wasn't around, but it was obvious that I had cleaned. This year all those memories flashed thru my head and made me squirm.

There are fleets of mobile homes camping thru the grounds fully equipped and if I camped out that way in the desert I would be more willing to return.  There are also plenty of tents in between, but I just couldn't see me roughing it like that in the desert. There is running water in the trailer we camped in, but there was a mishap on the drive down last year. My father in-law was pulling the trailer and not even a hour from home he had a major blow out.  It was so bad that it tore a huge gash half the length of the trailer. Now most people would have gotten a quick fix and turned back home.  Not Harry; he got a quick fix and continued on the remaining 4 hours of his trip to the chili festival. The repercussions of the blow out turned out to be more than what was visible at the time and we all suffered ..